In my role I always have to balance how I should spend my time. I usually have one project I’m currently working on, and a couple that are in the planning phase for the future. In addition there are requests of different sizes that interrupt any schedule. I love this dynamic, but it isn’t always easy.
I’ve been using a simple todo software for quite a while now, to keep track of my tasks. However, I have used the list in an ad hoc manner. Not having a routine in my task management meant that the list always was incomplete. About a month ago I had enough and began figuring out a better way to organise my life. Without having reached the final and optimal organisation routine I wish to share my thoughts so far.
The task list
The first step to start leveraging the positives of todo lists is to figure out where to keep them. For me that choice ended up being in software, but it can just as well be in a paper format. The main thing is that the tasks should be collected at an easily referenced location.
When it comes to software, there are many different solutions to choose from, and depending on your prioritisations different ones might fit your needs. After some considerations I had a set of requirements of what I wished for in my todo software.
- Cross platform sync: I need my tasks to be synced and accessible on both on my PC and my phone.
- Reminders: I want to be able to set a reminder to a task, and that reminder should be shown on relevant devices at the specified time.
- Organisation: It should be easy to organise tasks into projects, priorities, locations and so on. In addition it should be easy to filter based on these organisations.
- Ease of use. It should be quick and easy to add a task with any organisation and schedule.
- Templates: I wish to be able to import a task with subtasks for tasks that are similar.
For me these requirements landed me in using Todoist. It allows for projects and tags that I can use for organisation, and the filters allows me to create any tasklist I wish. The main feature however is their quick add, that allows me to add a task with tags, due date, project and more with a single sentence. Not even a single mouseclick needed, just a shortcut and then write.
Organisation
How to organise the tasks is personal. For me I have three projects; Private, Work and Templates. In these I use dividers and tags to easily find what I’m looking for. Example of tags I use is Digital for tasks I can do anywhere as long as I have a PC, or Anytime for tasks without a due date that can be performed whenever.
Based on these projects and tags I’ve created filters that allows me to get an overview of relevant tasks based on my current prerequisites.
Routine
The main thing I’ve come to realise is that the tasklist has to be dynamic and changing. It can and will change in more ways than one. Priorities change, tasks are added and removed, and so does my requirements. Therefore I review my tasks daily (not finished today, what is planned tomorrow) and weekly (this and next week, as well as non scheduled tasks). In addition to reviewing my tasks I’ve scheduled for me to review my workflow with my tasks monthly. My current workflow serves me well for now, but it can and will be improved with time. Both through personal experience and through insights from others.
Conclusion
In my journey to improve my productivity I have come to a routine of working with tasks that fit me. It is based on organisation, ease of adding tasks, and continuos improvement. You should try to learn tips and tricks from others, but how you organise and get things done is up to you. Getting inspiration is great, but you must find what works for you.